1,720,959 research outputs found
Radioactivity in coffee
No full textThis research was dedicated to the study of the background levels of 210Po and natural gamma emitters as 40K, 214Pb, 214Bi, 228Ac, 212Pb and 212Bi in coffee powder and in coffee beverage; also the artificial 137Cs was determined. In the coffee powder the mean 210Po activity resulted 7.25 10-2 ± 2.25 10-2 Bqkg-1. 40K showed a mean activity of 907.4 ± 115.6 Bqkg-1. The mean activity concentration of 214Pb and 214Bi, indicators of 226Ra, given as mean value of the two radionuclides, resulted 10.61 ± 4.02 Bq kg-1. 228Ac, 228Ra indicator, showed a mean activity concentration of 13.73 ± 3.20 Bq kg-1. The mean activity concentration of 212Pb, 224Ra indicator, was 8.28 ± 2.88 Bq kg-1. 208Tl, 224Ra indicator, presented a mean activity concentration of 11.03 ± 4.34 Bq kg-1. In all samples, the artifical 137Cs resulted below the detection limit (2.0 Bq kg-1). The arithmetical mean value of percentage of 210Po extraction in coffee beverage resulted 20.5 ± 6.9. The percentage of transfer of gamma emitters,40K, 214Pb, 214Bi, 228Ac, 212Pb, 208Tl resulted of 80.0% %, 33.5 %, 24.7 %, 30.0 %, 35.1 %, 53.5% for 40K, 214Pb, 214Bi, 228Ac, 212Pb and 208Tl respectively
Radon and tritium measurements in drinking water in a region of central Italy (Umbria)
No full textIn the last years the interest in drinking and mineral water radioactivity has grown. Recently national and EU regulations replaced the previous drinking water norms with the aim to strengthen consumers security concerning drinking water quality. Perugia and Urbino Universities carried out a joint study on the radiological characterization of the water destined for human consumption in the Umbria region. The aim of this work was to produce a map of the radon and tritium concentrations in the water of this area as a basis for the implementation of hydrogeological knowledge and to determine a possible related radiological risk for the local population. 222Rn measurements were performed by liquid scintillation and gamma-spectrometry and 3H measurements by liquid scintillation. Up to now, the 222Rn concentrations ranged 5.9-65.79 Bq/l and 3H concentrations are always lower than the detection limit (8.6 Bq/l)
222Rn determination in drinkable waters of a central eastern Italian area: comparison between liquid scintillation and gamma spectrometry
No full textIt is well known that the interest in radon concentration indoor as a pollutant emerged during the energy crisis of seventies which led to reduce ventilation in dwellings. Recently the Euratom Recommendation 2001/928 suggested the necessity of performing frequent 222Rn checks on tap waters. As a consequence of this Recommendation, Urbino and Perugia Universities carried out a preliminary 222Rn determination on tap waters of the Pesaro-Urbino province. Samplings were carried out in twenty-eight sites and radon concentration was determined by liquid scintillation counting and gamma-spectrometry. The results obtained by the two techniques were comparable (the deviation from the mean is lower than 10% for 54.5% of the samples). The resulted 222Rn concentration was very low (5 Bq-·11 for 43% of the samples) and, therefore, radon in waters cannot be considered as a direct radiological risk for the local population
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
238U, 234U, 226Ra, 210Po, concentrations of bottled mineral waters in Italy and their dose contribution
No full textDue to the importance of bottled mineral water in human diet with special regard to children in lactation period, a monitoring of natural radioactivity in some bottled mineral waters produced in Italy was performed. Gross alpha and beta activities and 226Ra, 238U, 234U, and 210Po concentrations were measured. Gross alpha and beta activities were determined by standards ISO 9696 and ISO 9697; for 226Ra determination liquid scintillation was used. The 238U and 234U concentrations were determined by alpha spectrometry after their separation from matrix by extraction chromatography and electroplating. 210Po was measured by alpha spectrometry. The results revealed that the concentrations (mBq L-1) of 226Ra, 238U, 234U, and 210Po ranged from <10.00 to 52.50, from <0.17 to 89.00, from <0.17 to 79.00, and from <0.04 to 21.01, respectively. Uranium and radium concentrations do not reach the relevant recommended derived activity concentration (DWC). For polonium concentration, none of the samples reaches the relevant DWC in the case of adults and children, but one sample exceeds this value for infants. The dose contribution for different classes of age was calculated using the dose coefficient factors reported by EC Directive 96/29 EURATOM and certain annual intake. For children and adult age class, the calculated doses are quite similar and lower than 0.1 mSv y-1; for infants (<1 y) in three cases the calculated dose ranges from 0.11 to 0.17 mSv y-1
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
- …
